Door holding mechanism



Nov. 13, 1962 w. A. CALHOUN 3,063,086

DOOR HOLDING MECHANISM F ed 13, 1960 Pan A1 I sway 1a 46 45 4 44 15 :5 17 INVENTOR 3,2

2e M y/vs A. CHLHOUA/ 3 ,053,086 Patented Nov. 13, 1962 3,063,086 DOOR HOLDING MECHANISM Wayne A. Calhoun, Santa Monica, Calif., assignor to The Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif., a nonprofit corporation of California Filed May 13, 1960, Bar. No. 28,935 8 Claims. (Cl. 164S This invention relates to holding mechanisms and more particularly to a remotely controlled holding mechanism of a type adapted to hold a hinged door in a desired position.

One useful application of the invention is in connection with a door closing device to releasably hold a hinged door in a predetermined open position. For illustrative purposes, the invention will be described in this environment. However, as will become apparent, the invention has other equally useful applications. For instance, the holding mechanism of the invention may be used to advantage in connection with a door opening device to releasably hold a door in a closed position. Thus, the detailed description of this application is notintended to limit the scope of the claims.

In the illustrative application to be described herein, a spring operated or hydraulically controlled door closer is mounted in the upper portion of the door. As is well known in the art, such door closers normally embody a pair of pivotal arms, one of which is secured to the door closer and the other to the door casing. In operation, a force is applied to the arm connected to the door closer to urge the door to its closed position.

To hold the door open against the action of the door closer, it has heretofore usually been necessary to either place a wedge or some other obstruction in the path of the door or to open the door to the extent that the pivotal arms of the door closer are axially aligned or dead centered. The use of a wedge or the like is bothersome;

moreover opening the door the extent required to dead center the arms is frequently undesirable or impossible because of an obstruction.

' out interfering with its subsequent automatic operation.

' A still further object of the invention is to provide a sturdy and durable holding mechanism that is reliable in operation, yet which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture. A

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be better understood by referring to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

- FIGURE 1 is a perspective View of a portion of a door casing and hingedly mounted door with an installed door closing-device showing the holding mechanism of the in- .vention installed for operation;

4 FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of the holding mechanism taken on the line 22 of FIGURE 1 showing the mechanism installed in the door casing;

FIGURE 3 is a partial section taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2; FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3, except that certain members are shown in a diiferent operating position;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a rotatable shaft of the holding mechanism; and

FIGURE 6 is a partial section similar to FIGURES 3 and 4 of a slightly modified form of the mechanism of the invention.

In FIGURE 1 a portion of a door casing 10 is shown mounting a door 11 with a hinge and pin as at 12 in the usual manner. A standard door closing device 13 is mounted in the upper portion of the door 11 and is connected for operation by a pair of pivotal arms 14 and 15. In order to apply a closing force to the door 11, a pivotal force is applied to the arm 14 by the door closer at 1ts connection with the arm. The arms 14 and 15 are pivotally joined with a pin 16 so that the closing force acts through the arms 15, which in turn is pivotally mounted on the casing 10 as at point 17 (FIG. 2) in a manner which will later be explained in detail. The construction of the door closer is well known in the art and forms no part to the present invention, and therefore will not be described in further detail. either of the arms 14 or 15 is held against pivotal movement, the door is held in a given position.

To hold the door in a given position, one of the pivotal arms is operatively connected to a rotatable shaft which, in turn, is adapted to be releasably held in a pretermined position. The rotatable shaft and a holding means are included in a holding mechanism 20, constructed in accordance with the present invention.

The holding mechanism 20 is shown mounted in a recess 21 in the door casing 10 and is adapted to be operatively connected to the pivotal arm 15. In operation, the mechanism 20 releasably locks the arm 15 against pivotal movement and thereby holds the door 11 in a given position against the action of the door closing device 13.

The holding means within the mechanism 20 includes detent and detent receiving means for releasably holding the rotatable shaft in a predetermined position. In addition, auxiliary detent and detent receiving means are included in the illustrative embodiment of the mechanism 29 for reasons that will later be explained.

A generally rectangularly shaped body 22 is provided for mounting the various elements of the holding mechanism 20 The body 22 has a main bore 23 and a substantially parallel actuator bore 24 extending transversely through it. A detent bore 25 extends longitudinally from one end of the body and connects the main and actuator bores 23 and 24. An auxiliary detent bore 26 intersects the main bore 23 preferably diametrically opposite from the opening to the auxiliary bore 25 and extends to the opposite end of the body. In the illustrative embodiment, the bore 26 may be a continuation of the bore 25, although it is not necessary that their diameters be equal nor that their axes be aligned.

A shaft 30 is rotatably mounted in the main bore 23 with a portion projecting below the body 22 for connection to the pivotal arm 15. The holding mechanism 20' functions to releasably lock the shaft 30 against rotation and thus holds the door 11 in a corresponding open position. The shaft 30 is preferably formed with an integral spacer 31 and an elongated key 32 on its lower end. The key 32 is adapted to be received in a mating slot or keyway 33 formed in the pivotal arm 15, the two members being retained in assembly by washer 34 and a screw 35 entered in a threaded bore 36 in the key 32. It will be noted that the elongated shape of the key 32 and its mating keyway 33 serves to preclude relative rotation of the shaft 30 and the arm 15.

A pair of sockets 40 and 41 preferably with radii substantially equal to the radii of bores 25 and 26, respec- However, it should be noted that if ape-spec tively, are formed in the periphery of the shaft 30. The sockets 40 and 41 are arranged to be simultaneously aligned with their respective bores 25 and 26. Thus, in the present embodiment, socket 41 is diametrically opposite socket 40. A pair of peripheral grooves 42 and 43 are formed on the shaft, the groove 42 extending from the socket 40 and the groove 43 extending from the socket '41. In cross section the grooves 42 and 43 are preferably formed in the shape of segments of circles with radii substantially equal to the radii of the sockets 49 and 41, respectively, and of a lesser depth than the sockets. As will be explained later, the angular extent of the grooves 42 and 43 around the shaft 30 determines the limits of rotation of the shaft with respect to the body 22.

A detent ball 44 is movable in the detent bore 25, its diameter being preferably just slightly less than the diameter of the bore 25 so that it is free to move axially but is held against radial movement. In the form of the mechanism shown herein, a spacer ball 45 of the same size as ball 44 is also positioned in the bore 25.

The detent ball '44 is adapted to ride in the groove 42 and to move into shaft-locking engagement with the socket 40. Since the radius of the ball 44 is substantially equal to the radius of the socket 40, the ball will cornpletely fill the socket 40 when seated therein to firmly hold the shaft 30 against rotation. Likewise, since the radius of the ball 44 is also substantially equal to the previously defined radius of the groove 42, the ball will fill the cross-sectional portion of the groove when it is riding therein. Therefore, when the ball 44 is riding in the groove 42, the ball and groove cooperate to prevent axial movement of the shaft 30 and hence ensure that the socket 40 is longitudinally aligned with the detent bore coincidentally with the angular aligning of the socket and bore.

An actuator 46 in the form of a shaft provided with a wedge surface 47 is longitudinally movable in the actuator bore 24. The wedge surface 47 is arranged to engage the spacer ball 45 to urge the detent ball 44 into engagement with the shaft as the actuator 46 is moved into the body 22. The actuator 46 may engage the detent ball 44 directly, but in some cases greater separation is desired for design or other reasons.

A compression spring 50 acts on a stop plate 51 formed on the actuator 46 to yieldingly urge the latter into the body 22. The actuator 46 is longitudinally movable in its bore 24 between the positions shown in full and phantom lines in FIGURE 2. When the shaft 30 is rotated to the position of FIGURE 3 corresponding to the open or held position of the door, the detent ball 44 is urged into the socket by the spring-loaded actuator 46. This causes the actuator to move to its extended position shown in full lines in FIGURE 2. When sufiicient torque is applied to the shaft 30 to rotate it, the detent ball '45 is cammed out of its socket 40 into the groove 42, causing the actuator 46 to be moved against the action of the spring 50 to its retracted position, shown in phantom lines in FIGURE 2.

A desirable but not essential feature of my invention is the provision of additional detent means 52 in the auxiliary detent bore 26. An auxiliary detent ball 53 is yieldingly urged into engagement with the groove 43 or into shaft-locking engagement with the socket 41 coincidentally with like movements of the detent ball 44 into its groove 42 or socket 40. A compression spring 54 is disposed in the bore 26 to so urge the ball 53. A cap screw 55 in a correspondingly threaded end portion 56 of the bore 26 serves as means for adjusting the biasing force acting on the ball 53.

Besides reducing the force necessary on the detent ball 44 to lock the shaft 30 against rotation, the auxiliary detent ball 53 helps to balance the detent forces acting on the shaft 30. This is particularly true in the illustrative embodiment shown, where ball 53 acts in diametric opposition to the ball 44. Balancing of the forces is desirable in order to insure even wearing of the shaft 30 and to keep it from binding as it rotates.

In order to selectively release the shaft 30 from its locked position of FIGURES 2 and 3, a remotely controlled solenoid 60 is provided. The solenoid 60 has a plunger 61 for moving the actuator 46 upwardly, against the urging of the spring 50 to, in effect, overcome the action of the spring. Such movement removes the force urging the detent ball 44 into the socket 40, so that the previously ineffective torque exerted on the shaft 30 by the closing device 13 now becomes effective to rotate the shaft and to cam the detent balls 44 and 53 out of their respective sockets 40 and 41.

The solenoid 60 is attached to the body 22 by a pair of brackets 62 and 63, each of which is secured both to a housing 59 of the solenoid and to the body by any suitable means as with screws 64. When so attached, the housing 59 serves as an abutment for the compression spring 50.

The plunger 61 is formed with a slotted end portion 65, which is adapted to receive an upstanding projection 66, formed on the actuator 46, when joining the plunger and actuator. A pin 67 is utilized to effect a loose fitting connection between the two members. A loose fitting connection is preferred in order to avoid binding of the plunger 61 as it moves longitudinally in the solenoid 60.

In mounting the holding mechanism 20 for use with the door closing device 13, the mechanism is supported in the recess 21 by a soffit plate 70. The body 22 of the holding mechanism is secured to the plate 70 by any suitable means, as with screws 71. The plate 70 is in turn secured to the casing 10 as with wood screws 72.

As viewed in FIGURE 2, the plate 70 is preferably set in a recess 73 in the door casing 10, the extent of the recess being substantially equal to the combined thickness of the assembly comprising arm 15, spacer 31, key 32, and washer 34. Thus, when the door 11 is closed, it clears the aforementioned assembly.

The solenoid 60 is connected by suitable leads to a power supply 74 and is adapted to be remotely actuated by a conveniently located switch 75.

In describing a cycle of operation, it will be assumed that the cycle commences with the door 11 in its closed position. When the door 11 is so positioned, the shaft 30 is arranged to be in the relative angular position illustrated in FIGURE 4. The detent balls 44 and 53 are yieldingly urged into engagement in their respective grooves 42 and 43.

As the door 11 is opened in opposition to the urging of the door closing device 13, the arm 15 is pivoted, causing shaft 30 to rotate toward the position shown in FIGURE 3. When the door 11 is opened sufficiently wide to rotate shaft 30 to the position of FIGURE 3, the detent balls 44 and 53 automatically move into shaftlocking engagement with their respective sockets 40 and 41. The door closing torque applied to the shaft 30 by the device 13 is insufiicient alone to rotate the shaft to cam the detent balls 44 and 53 out of their respective sockets 40 and 41. Thus, the door is held in a predetermined opened position. Should the movement of the door 11 stop short of its predetermined opened position, the door closing device 13 is effective immediately to close the door.

Two independent means are provided for releasing the door from its held position. As previously discussed, the solenoid 60 may be remotely actuated by the switch 75 to overcome the action of the spring 50. The torque applied to the shaft 30 by the door closing device 13 is then suflicient itself to rotate the shaft 30 to cam the detent balls 44 and 53 out of their sockets. The door 11 is then free to be closed by the operation of the door closing device 13.

The door 11 may also be released manually from its lustrated FIGURE-4, "the held maximum opening'of the-door; The angular-opening of the door 11 in itsheldposition-may be suitably reduced by connectingthe shaft 30 and-arm '15 to initially'estab held position by merely applying a slight closing force to it. Such a force, in effect, overpowers the holding mechanism and supplies the additional torque necessary to rotate the shaft 30 to cam the balls 44 and 53 out of their sockets. Once the door is released, it, of course,

closes under the influence of the door closing device 13.

In addition to receiving the detent balls for locking shaft 30 to hold door 11 in a predetermined position, sockets 40 and 41 also serve to limit the maximum angular opening of the door. In order to open the door wider than its held position, it would be necessary to further rotate the shaft 30 to cam the detent balls 44 and 53 out of their respective sockets 40 and 41 onto the peripheral surface of the shaft. To further rotate the shaft in this manner requires an unreasonable amount of force on the door and it is obvious to a person opening the door 11 that it is intended to open no wider than the held position.

The extent of angular opening of the door 11 in its held position may be varied with certain limits by appropriate adjustment of the shaft 30 relative to the arm at their connection. fIhus, the door 11 can be held at any predetermined angle of opening within certain limitsby suitable adjustment ofthe arm and shaft. When the shaft'30- and arm 15- are operatively connected'to initially position the shaft in the closed door position ilposition will be at a lish the closed door position :of the shaft intermediate the extreme positions of FIGURES 3 and 4.

My invention contemplates certain modifications in the number and positioning of the sockets and grooves in the shaft 30 to vary the operating characteristics of the mechanism. For example, as illustrated in FIGURE 6, additional sockets 48 may be provided intermediate the ends of grooves 42 and 43. In this case the door 11 has more than a single held position. To close the door 11 from a maximum held position necessitates actuating the solenoid 60 a number of times corresponding to the number of intermediate sockets 48 or continuously actuating it until the shaft has rotated sufiiciently for all the sockets to pass the detent bores. Likewise, in releasing the door manually, it has to be independently released from each intermediate held position.

The holding mechanism of the invention is readily adapted for use in a system where a plurality of doors mounting door closing devices are to be remotely closed from a central point. In a manufacturing plant or hotel, for example, it may be desirable to provide both individual remote switches for each door in the immediate area and an additional individual switch or a gang switch at a central point.

It will be understood that the particular embodiment of my invention described herein is merely illustrative of one form of my invention, and that numerous changes in the construction and arrangement of the various members may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A holding mechanism of the type described, comprising: a body; shaft means rotatably supported by said body; detent receiving means on said shaft means; detent means supported by said body and operatively associated with said shaft means, said detent means being adapted to seat in shaft-locking engagement with said detent receiving means; means effective upon rotation of said shaft means to a predetermined position to urge said detent means into said engagement with said detent receiving means and hold said shaft means against rotation under the influence of a predetermined torque on said shaft, said urging means being adapted to be overpowered to permit said detent means to move out of shaft-locking engagement with said detent receiving means upon a torque greater than said predetermined torque being applied to said shaft means; and remotely controllable means selectively operable and adapted for repeated operation for overcoming the action of said urging means.

2. A holding mechanism of the type described, comprising: a body having a main bore and a detent bore intersecting said main bore; a shaft rotatable in said main bore, said shaft being formed with a socket in its periphery and with a peripheral groove communicating with said socket; a detent located in said detent bore, said detent riding in shaft-guiding engagement with said groove during rotation of said shaft and movable into shaft-locking engagement with said socket when said socket is aligned with said detent bore; means yieldingly urging said detent in a direction toward said shaft; and remotely controllable means operable to overcome the action of said last-mentioned means.

3. A holding mechanism of the type described, comprising: a body having formed therein, a main bore, an actuator bore, and a detent bore connecting said main and actuator bores; a shaft rotatably mounted in said main bore, said shaft being formed with a socket in its periphery; detent means movable in said detent bore and adapted to seat in shaft-locking engagement in said socket when said socket is aligned with the opening to said detent bore; an actuator movable in said. actuator bore and having a wedge surface operatively engaging said detent means,said actuator being movable in a first direction to move said detent means toward said shaft and in a second direction to permit said detent to move away from said shaft; means yieldingly urging said actuator in said first direction, whereby said detent means is moved into shaft-locking engagement with said socket when said socket is aligned with said detent bore; and means operable to overcome the action of said yieldingly urging means.

4. A holding mechanism of the type described, com prising: a body having formed therein, a main bore, an actuator bore, and a detent bore connecting said main and actuator bores; a shaft movable in said main bore, said shaft being formed with a socket in its periphery and with a peripheral groove of a predetermined angular extent communicating with said socket; a detent movable in said detent bore to ride in engagement in said groove and to seat in shaft-locking engagement in said socket; an actuator longitudinally movable in said actuator bore and having a Wedge surface operatively engaging said detent, whereby movement of said actuator in one direction moves said detent toward said shaft and movement in an opposite direction permits said detent to move away from said shaft; means yieldingly urging said actuator in said one direction; and power-operated means for overcoming the action of said last-mentioned means.

5. A holding mechanism of the type described, comprising: a body having a main bore, a detent bore and an auxiliary detent bore, said detent bore and said auxiliary detent bore intersecting said main bore at spaced positions; a shaft rotatable in said main bore, said shaft having a first socket on its periphery positioned to be in alignment with said detent bore substantially coincidentally with the aligning of a second socket with said auxiliary detent bore; detents located in said detent and auxiliary detent bores and movable into shaft-locking engagement with said'sockets; means yieldingly urging said detents in directions to engage in said sockets to prevent rotation of said shaft when urged by a predetermined torque on said shaft; and means operable to overcome the action of said last-mentioned means to permit a torque less than said predetermined torque to rotate said shaft.

6. A holding mechanism of the type described, comprising: a body having a main bore and an actuator bore interconnected by a detent bore, and an auxiliary detent bore intersecting said main bore; a shaft rotatable in said main bore, said shaft having at least two angularly spaced sockets in its periphery, one of said sockets being located to be in alignment With said detent bore substantially coincidentally with the aligning of another of said sockets with said auxiliary detent bore, said shaft additionally having at least two peripheral grooves each extending from a corresponding one of said sockets; a detent and an auxiliary detent located in said detent and auxiliary detent bores respectively, and movable into shaftguiding engagement with said grooves and into shaftlocking engagement with said sockets when said sockets are aligned with said detent and auxiliary detent bores; an actuator longitudinally movable in said actuator bore and having a wedge surface operatively engaging said detent, whereby movement of said actuator in one direction moves said detent toward said shaft and movement in the opposite direction permits said detent to move away from said shaft; first spring means yieldingly urging said actuator in said one direction; second spring means yieldingly urging said auxiliary detent into engagement with said shaft; and power-operated and remotely controllable means for overcoming the action of said first spring means.

7. A holding mechanism for use in conjunction with door-moving means of a pivotally mounted door, comprising: a body having a main bore and a detent bore intersecting said main bore; a shaft rotatable in said main bore and operatively connected to said door-moving means; detent receiving means formed on the periphery of said shaft, said detent receiving means arranged to be in alignment with said detent bore when said door is in a predetermined position; a detent in said detent bore and movable into shaft-locking engagement with said detent receiving means when said door is in said predetermined position; means yieldingly urging said detent to move in a direction to engage in said socket, whereby said door is held in said predetermined position in opposition to the force of said door-moving means; and remotely controllable means for overcoming the action of said yieldingly urging means and thereby releasing the door from its predetermined held position.

8. A holding mechanism of the type described, comprising: a body; a shaft rotatably supported by said body; means carried by said body and cooperable with said shaft for releasably locking said shaft against movement under the influence of a predetermined torque on said shaft, said shaft being released upon a torque greater than said predetermined torque being applied to said shaft; and remotely controllable means selectively operable and adapted for repeated operation for overcoming the action of said locking means to permit a torque less than said predetermined torque to rotate said shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,031,287 Page July 2, 1912 1,133,453 Ball Mar. 30, 1915 1,343,856 Viersen June 15, 1920 1,430,192 Schloss Sept. 26, 1922 1,668,341 Shaw et al May 1, 1928 2,314,544 Larson Mar. 23, 1943 2,368,875 Potter Feb. 6, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 517,692 Germany Feb. 7, 1931 

